Supporter



A. T. VAN ALSTYN.

SUPPORTER.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAY I5, ISIS.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

A. T. VAN ALSTYN.

SUPPORTER.

APPLICATION man mvls. me.

1 ,328,406, Patented Jan. '20, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ALBERT T b /v fl LSTYN UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT T. VAN ALSTYN, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

SUPP ORTER.

1,32s,4oe.

Application filed May 15,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT 'I. VAN ALsTYN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSupporters, of which the following is a. specification.

My invention relates to a supporter especially of that class which isadapted to be used to support sanitary bandages and the like, and, in amodified form, may be used as a stocking supporter; or still further,may be modified for use in whatever capacity girdles may be used.

A most important object of the present 1n- Vention, when manufactured asa waist encircling supporter, is to provide a device which is so formedthat it conforms, without distortion, to the natural configuration ofthe body to be encircled and yet exerts sufiicient tension on the bodyto hold itself in place without any discomfort whatsoever to the wearer.

Another object is to provide a supporter which is formed from a finishedstrip of webbing, preferably woven, having an open expanded portion orportions which permit dips to be formed in order that the supporter mayproperly conform to the shape of the body engirdled and, by reason ofthe open feature of the expanded portion, this provides a cooler andmore sanitary supporter than is the case with the solid or filled inexpanded portion of the belt set forth in a co-pending application ofmine.

A further object is to provide a supporter which is formed from a wovenfinished strip of webbing wholly or partially divided longitudinally andseparated intermediate the ends of the divided portions to form theexpanded open dips, thus providing a belt or supporter which requires nobinding or hemming and which has its warp threads disposedcircumferentially thereby avoiding permanent distortion. It is howeverexpressly understood that the divided portions may be expanded in any ofa number of ways and also that the length from which the supporter isformed may be made up of two separate strips, if desired, sewed togetheralong their edges. The supporter when constructed as a garter isparticularly desirable in that it is simple, flexible in every part, andavoids the use of a pad, hence doing away with all the disadvantagesSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

1918. Serial No. 97,559.

of a pad, and yet sacrificing none of the advantages thereof for thereason that the expanded portion forms a pad-shape.

With the above and other objects in view. many of which will hereinafterappear and others of which will be self-evident I will now proceed todescribe specific embodiments of my invention, which embodiments I haveshown in the accompanying drawings merely by way of illustration andthey are not to be construed as in any way limiting the inventionhereinafter claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, of one type of supporter or beltconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a garter.

Fig. 3 illustrates one type of strip from which the garter or belt maybe evolved, and having the warp threads longitudinally disposed.

Fig. 4 diagrammatically illustrates one method of forming a dippedexpanded portion; and

Fig. 5 shows a strip from which a garter may be formed, or one-half of abelt such as shown in Fig. 1.

In detail:

"With reference to Fig. 1, wherein I have shown a supporter of the belttype which is adapted to support a catamenial bandage or the like, thisbelt is constructed or made up of two woven halves A and B which arejoined as will be hereinafter described. The halves of the belt shown inFig. 1 are evolved from a strip of material such as is illustrated inFig. 3 wherein the strip 1 is divided longitudinally during weaving, asshown at 2, to provide a slit or elongated button-hole having finishededges. In making up this strip a plurality of these slits are spacedalong the length thereof. The strips-thus made are then severed throughthe slitted portion at about midway thereof to form belt halves such asillustrated in Fig. 5 and which correspond to either the half A or thehalf B of the belt shown in Fig. 1. When the strip 1 is thus severed toform a half each end of the half is bifurcated and to form the completebelt the adjacent ends of the two halves are joined preferably at anangle, as shown in 1. For instance, selecting the two halves A and B, Iplace the members 3 and f in angular relation at their ends and jointhem with a line of stitching 5. Similarly the ends 6 and 7 are joinedby a line of stitching 8 and likewise ends 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 arejoined by lines of stitching l3 and 14, respectively. The joining of theends in this manner leaves an open portion C at each juncture of thehalves and furthcrmore provides an expanded dip as clearly shown in thedrawing.

With reference to Fig. 4, this figure clearly hows one manner in whichthe ends of a severed strip, or rather the ends of two halves, may bejoined. In this figure the dofted lines indicate the angular relation inwhich the ends are brought together and stitched.

The garter illustrated in Fig. 2 is formed similarly to the beltillustrated in Fig. 1 and may comprise either one or two expanded dippedopen portions. In this type of supporter the ends 15, 16 and 17 18 arejoined similar to the ends 3, 4, 6, 7 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the belt shownin Fig. 1. It is desirable, however, to sever the garter at some pointsuch as 19 in order that it may be separated for the purpose of placing1t around the limb and hence one end of the garter, where it is severedas at 19, may be provided with a part 20 of any suitable style of clasp;the other part of the clasp being carried by the other extremity asshown at 21, and intermediate the length may be inserted an adjustingslide 22 by means of which the length or size of the garter may bevaried.

Reverting to the belt shown in Fig. 1, the ends 3, 4t and 6, 7 havestitched thereover, as indicated in dotted lines, either an inelastic orelastic piece 23, which forms an attaching element to which a garmentmay be secured, and the ends 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 are covered by asimilar piece 2 1. The pieces 23 and 24 serve to reinforce the severedportions of the belt and also may be extended to provide tabs which maycarry any kind of attaching means.

Likewise the ends 15, 16 and 17 18 of the garter shown in Fig. 2 havestitched thereacross either an inelastic or elastic piece 25 whichbesides reinforcing the severed portion carries an attaching member D towhich the stocking or sock may be secured in any convenient way. Thisclasp may be of any ordinary type which I may choose to provide.

While in the foregoing I have described specific embodiments of thepresent invention it is nevertheless to be understood that any part ofthe devices herein set forth may be varied in shape or structure so longas it does not depart from the spirit of the invention as defined in theappended claims. Also, it is to be understood that, if desirable, eitherthe garter or the belt may be woven on a cylindrical loom so as toprovide a continuous belt circumferentially divided during weaving for aportion of its length, and the circumferentially divided portion may beexpanded by a suitable piece fastened transversely thereacross andcarrying an attaching tab.

1 claim:

1. A supporter comprising an encircling member having spacedcircumferentially extending slits forming front and rear dips, and meansseparating the slitted portions intermediate their lengths to hold saidparts in dipped relation when in use in order to conform to theconfiguration of the body encircled.

2. A supporter comprising an encircling member having spacedcircumferentially ex tending slits forming front and rear dips, andmeans separating the slitted portions intermediate their lengths to holdsaid parts in dipped relation in order to conform to the configurationof the body encircled, said means forming article attaching tabs.

3. A supporter forming a webbing belt composed of woven halves havingbifurcated terminals, and means connectingthe severed ends of the onehalf with the severed ends of the other half to form a belt having anopen expanded portion whereby a dip is located at the front and rear toconform to the configuration of the body of the wearer.

4. A webbing belt composed of woven halves having bifurcated terminals,and means connecting the severed ends of the one half in diagonalrelation with the severed ends of the other half to form a belt dippedat diametrically opposite points to conform to the configuration of thebody of the wearer.

5. A webbing belt composed of woven halves having bifurcated terminalsjoined on the bias, and front and rear straps overlying and reinforcingthe adjacent severed ends of the respective halves and holding thecontinuations thus formed in separated relation whereby a continuousbelt having open expanded dips at diametrically opposite points isformed.

6. A webbing belt composed of woven halves having bifurcatedterminalssevered transversely on the bias, and front and rear straps overlyingand connecting the adjacent severed ends of the respective halves toform a continuous belt expanded and dipped at the front and rear toconform to the configuration of the body of the wearer, the terminals ofsaid straps forming attaching tabs.

7. The method of forming a belt having narrow side portions connected byfront and rear expanded portions dipped to conform to the configurationof the waist-line of the wearer which consists in producing a wovenstrip of material having lengthwlse woven button-hole slits ofrelatively great length, severing such strip transversely through saidslits to form belt-halves each having terminals with two strands, thenspreading the strands of each of said terminals relative to each other,and finally connecting the corresponding strands of the adjacentterminals in their spread relation to form open dipped portions.

8 woven -supporter comprisin two halves having V-shaped terminals formedduring the weaving and connected, and tabs disposed transversely of suchterminals and functioning as a reinforcement therefor, and holding themin dipped relation to conform to the body of the wearer.

9. A supporter comprising a strip of webbing having bifurcatedterminals, each end of said bifurcated terminals being angularly cut andof opposite inclination at the opposite ends of the strip, and attachingmeans connecting said bifurcated terminals of the respective ends inspaced relation to form a supporter having an open expanded portionwhereby to provide a dip at said connection to conform to theconfiguration of the part of the body encircled.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

ALBERT T. VAN ALSTYN.

Witnesses LEON T. POND, VVM. WV. WILLIAMS.

